


All you have to do is touch my hand (to show me you understand)

by hawrthiacoopri



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/M, IM SORRY FOR THE TEASE AT THE END I JUST COULDN'T WORK IN A DESC OF THE KISS ORGANICALLY, M/M, please just Leave Me Be, this took pretty long please respect the turtle pace I work at
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 14:37:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8405473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawrthiacoopri/pseuds/hawrthiacoopri
Summary: And suddenly Will was crying, and El was confused, and they were both in love with Mike Wheeler.





	

**Author's Note:**

> HhhaOooooo boy do I love this fresh angst (newflash it's not that angsty but I Tried). This is set in high school I think?? They're definitely older. 
> 
>  
> 
> ALSO this is all inspired by two comic strips by Charles Shultz's Peanuts and if I can find the link I'll add it in later. So Mike's monologue is a modified version of that strip (it's so sad :(()  
> •
> 
> The title is from Wonderful by Carole King

Will was standing against the wall, waiting for the bathroom to be free, which was how it had started. 

He'd heard the water stop, and the knob turn. El stepped out, the steam from the bathroom following her. 

"It's all yours, Will," El smiled, showing her perfectly straight teeth and drying her hair with her terry cloth robe.

"Oh, I just need to comb my hair. Do you have a brush I could borrow?" Will tried not to think about how her hair still smelled like Mike's house, all warm and spicy, even though she'd washed it. It must reflect on how engrained Mike and El were into each other, Will thought bitterly. 

"Yeah, totally! I was about to do my makeup anyways." 

Will followed her up the stairs, his heart sinking; she only did makeup when she went somewhere super nice. And she only went nice places with- 

"What're you doing tonight?" He tried to sound casual. 

El's face brightened. "I'm going to dinner with Mike's family at his synagogue, actually." 

Will tried to look happy. "How nice!" 

El handed him a comb, sitting down at the vanity Hopper had made for her and getting out a compact of pressed powder. "Here." She said shortly, not out of brusqueness, but just because that was Eleven. Short and sweet, in more ways than one. 

"How've you been doing in class?" Will asked, ever the supportive adoptive brother. 

"Pretty good. I wish Mr. Clarke taught high school." El loved Mr. Clarke, since he'd helped El come back from the Upside Down, and he'd let El stay after school whenever she wanted help with her science homework. 

"Me too." Will smiled, looking at El and feeling his heart drop when he saw how nice she looked. 

"Will?" 

"Yeah?" 

"Can you help me figure out what to wear?" El smiled at him again, making Will grit his teeth. 

"Sure, El." 

•

El finally decided on a floaty blue dress that used to be Nancy's; the one that nipped in at the waist and flared out from there, making El look like a fashion doll. Her hair had dried and set into soft curls that framed her face, and made her look like Marilyn Monroe.

Albeit, a brunette, gorgeous, young Marilyn who was dating the cutest boy Will had ever met. 

A Marylin who had everything Will wanted. 

And suddenly Will was crying, and El was confused, and they were both in love with Mike Wheeler. 

•  
The next day, Mike invited Will over. No one else, just him. El had told him something was wrong, he'd said. 

Damn El and her big, beautiful mouth.

Mike sat down on the couch, his legs tucked under him and his eyes radiating intensity. "What's up with you?" 

"I guess fine, you?" Will knew what he meant, but he tried to dodge the question. 

"You know what I mean, Will." The anxious way Mike said his name sent tremors through his whole body. "Why were you crying last night?" 

And he started to talk, seemingly without end, against his will. Almost as if Mike had bewitched him to spill his guts.

"I stood in front of El and I saw how pretty she was, Mike, and I realized why you've always loved her, and I realized that no one will ever love me that way..." Will sniffed a little, wiping his nose out of habit. "And I started to cry and I couldn't stop. I made myself look like a fool, but I didn't care..." Will remembered that moment too, while El had looked confusedly at him, all faint curvature and with wavy hair like that of a princess. "I just looked at her and cried and cried. I have big eyes like a fish and my split ends have split ends, and I'll always be funny looking and I think I might cry again..." Will buried his head in his hands, trying to keep himself together, all the while remembering the way Mike looked at El, the exact way he wanted Mike to look at him-

He felt two insistent arms wrap around him, pulling him up out of his crumpled position and prying his hands gently off of his face holding him tightly. He was incredibly gentle. 

"It's ok, it's fine, please don't cry.." Mike's voice was muffled by Will's hair, and the thought that Mike Wheeler was touching him in a similar way to how he touched El wasn't helping him hear any better, especially with Mike's lips whispering against the strands and making Will almost shiver. "Now, tell me again what's wrong?" 

"I was just looking at El, Mike, and I started to cry and I couldn't stop... she's so pretty. She just sort of sparkles." He drew a shaky breath. "I'll never sparkle. I'm an average joe... I'm a mud fence... I feel like a little kid next to her." Will felt like a child next to El, with her subtle features and sweet smile, especially when he knew that Mike would pick a girl's soft beauty over his own sharp edges and hardness. "The only person who ever knows how I feel is Jonathan.." That he knew for sure. After countless overshadowing from Steve Harrington, his brother had started to feel a little unwanted. "If he was here, he'd lean over and kiss me on the cheek." He'd said it without thinking of what might happen, almost absentmindedly, although there was no way that Will couldn't be paying complete attention to the way the taller boy's arms were fastened at his ribcage and how his breathing seemed to be syncing with Will's own. 

Before he knew what was happening, Mike was turning him around and pushing his lips onto Will's temple and smiling goofily at him like nothing completely crazy and amazing had just happened. 

"Like that, Will?"

He touched his cheek, blinking faster as his eyes darted from Mike's eyes to his lips. 

"I... Yes. Like that." He looked away, his face flaming and trying not to look at Mike's eyes. 

He was probably creeped out by Will's attraction. He was just being nice, obviously, but what if he didn't even like Will as a friend? Obviously he didn't have to, Mike could do anything he wanted, obviously, but he'd rather Mike not feel obligated to hang out with him. 

While Will was caught up in his thoughts, Mike had scooted impossibly closer to him. "Will? Can you look at me?" Will did. "Do you really think you're ugly?" 

He rubbed his neck, reluctant to answer. Obviously he wasn't Mike, that was visible to anyone who saw them together, but... he wasn't sure if he thought of himself as ugly or not. 

Mike grabbed his arms, rubbing them a little and trying to smile. "Listen to me. You are not funny-looking, Will Byers. You are a wonderful person, and you can't be ugly if you're a good person." Will's heart sank even lower. So Mike didn't think he was cute, after all. 

Mike must have seen his face, and he added quickly, "And anyways, your eyes are nice. And so if your hair." It was his turn to look away, and he seemed to be turning a bit pastel, too. 

"Really?" Will whispered, grinning and wiping his eyes. 

"I mean, yeah..." Mike looked embarrassed. "You're... nice. Nice looking, I mean. But nice, also."

Will touched Mike's hand accidentally, tearing it away after a second and started to apologize. but Mike grabbed it and looked at Will quickly. "Don't say sorry. You're not doing anything wrong." 

But Will did do something wrong. He had a crush on his friend, who was boy, and who also had a crush on a girl. But if Mike said not to do something, Will wasn't about to do it after he'd just laid on him and Mike had comforted him. 

"Will? Can I tell you something?" Mike's voice wavered. 

"Sure." Will squeezed his hand quickly, his heart skipping a beat when Mike squeezed back. 

"I think..." Mike gulped. "I think I might like boys, too." 

Will struggled not to jump up and shout in joy, or kiss Mike square on the mouth. 

"How do you know?" 

Mike looked at Will, smiling goofily. "Because when I watch romantic movies all I can think of is kissing you. Even more than El, I think." 

"Oh gosh," Will said breathily.

Mike rubbed his neck. "Yeah." 

"If you want..." Will gulped. "If you want, you can see if you like it or not." 

And Mike did.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok I'm done now. I might write Nancy and Barb because they were?? Obviously gfs???
> 
> Also!!!! Please give me validation thru comments if you like this because i honestly subsist only on Comments


End file.
